By Mary Izuaka

 

The federal government has commissioned a 3-megawatt captive solar hybrid power project at Yakubu Gowon University, formerly University of Abuja, to strengthen electricity supply for teaching, research, laboratory operations and digital services.

The project was delivered under Phase II of the Energising Education Programme (EEP), implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), through the World Bank-funded Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP).

The intervention comes as universities grapple with unreliable electricity for teaching, digital services, student accommodation and campus security.

Commissioning the facility on Wednesday, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said the investment shows the practical link between Nigeria’s energy transition and human capital development.

“There is perhaps no better place to demonstrate the practical value of Nigeria’s energy transition than a university. A university brings together everything that a modern energy system is expected to support: learning, research, healthcare, technology, administration and, increasingly, the digital infrastructure through which knowledge is created and shared,” Mr Tegbe said.

He said the facility would provide a more reliable energy base for teaching and research, adding that its long-term performance would be the real measure of the investment.

“The commissioning is not the conclusion of the investment. It is the beginning of its most important phase,” he added.

Mr Tegbe linked the focus on sustainability to the recently established Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO), which is intended to strengthen long-term management and performance of renewable energy assets.

Beyond putting solar panels on campuses

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of REA, Abba Aliyu, said the Energising Education Programme had grown beyond providing electricity infrastructure.

“When the Energising Education Programme was conceived, the ambition was straightforward: to change what reliable electricity could mean for Nigeria’s public universities. Not simply to put solar panels on campuses, but to create the conditions for students to learn, lecturers to teach, researchers to work, laboratories to function and universities to operate with greater certainty,” Mr Aliyu said.

He said renewable energy infrastructure has been delivered to 22 federal universities and three affiliated teaching hospitals under the programme, with over 100MW of clean energy deployed and more than 600,000 students and 50,000 academic and non-academic staff impacted nationwide.

Mr Aliyu said REA’s experience implementing projects at scale had reinforced the need to plan for the entire life of an energy asset.

“We have become very good at asking, ‘How do we build more?’ We must now become equally rigorous about asking, ‘How do we protect what we have already built? How do we make it perform? And how do we preserve its value?’” he said.

He said the experience contributed to the thinking behind RAMCO and would inform REA’s efforts to develop models that attract private capital, expand electricity access and protect public investments.

Also speaking, the Head of the Nigeria Electrification Project, Olufemi Akinyelure, said the significance of the project should be measured by the wider development opportunities reliable electricity creates.

“The government may not be in the business of making profit, but it must always be in the business of making progress. And perhaps no public investment yields a greater return than investment in education because when we power a university, we do not merely light buildings; we illuminate minds, enable innovation and strengthen the future of our nation,” Mr Akinyelure said.

Varsity assures on maintenance

The Vice-Chancellor of Yakubu Gowon University, Hakeem Fawehinmi, described the project as an investment in the university’s academic mission.

“A university such as ours cannot teach effectively, conduct meaningful research, operate its laboratories, sustain digital services or even provide the conducive environment required for learning and innovation without dependable power supply,” Mr Fawehinmi said.

He said the project would strengthen electricity supply for the rapidly growing institution and assured that the university would ensure proper utilisation and maintenance of the facility.

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In his remarks, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the project demonstrated the link between energy policy, effective implementation and tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerians.

Mr Abaribe said the National Assembly would continue to provide the legislative environment and oversight needed to support power sector investment and accountability.

“Sustainability must therefore remain a priority,” he said, stressing the importance of university ownership and appropriate arrangements for operation, maintenance and protection of the facility.

Training centre, female STEM

Beyond electricity supply, the project includes a Renewable Energy Workshop and Training Centre to support practical learning and skills development in renewable energy technologies.

The EEP also incorporates a female STEM component that provides female students with practical exposure to renewable energy and opportunities in the sector.